Monday, April 24, 2006

Out Of Control News

My boyzzzz the Minnesota Thunder started the 2006 season they way I like it to start. A 4-0 ass kicking of defending league champs Seattle. Yes Seattle lost several key players from last year, and had some injuries. But our team had a terrible year last year and were missing at least 2 key starters from this match. The defense looked a little shaky at times, and the midfield did little or no passing, but the attackers were relentless. Every time 1 of the front 4 got ahold of the ball they were turning and going straight at the goal. All the goals made me so so happy, and came from many different scenarios. Blistering speed and powerful shot from Melvin Tarley for #1. Terrible defense-to-keeper backpass left an opportunity to make them pay for #2 by Leo Gibson. Tenacious central midfield and center striker bull rush by Terry Alvino and Nate Knox giving Alvino #3. And speed and amazing ball skill with a gorgeous flick by Aaron Paye for #4. The team grabbed a clean sheet too, which we saw so damn little of last year. Nice start for the new coach, Amos Magee & the team. PS. Former headman Buzz Lagos joined the supporters section for the 2nd half of the match! How amazing is that!~ ~ ~ ~10 of the 12 First Division teams kicked off the season:Puerto Rico 3-1 Atlanta (Friday)Virginia Beach 2-0 TorontoVancouver 1-0 PortlandMiami 0-0 MontrealMinnesota 4-0 SeattlePuerto Rico 1-1 Atlanta (Sunday)-Charleston starts their season next weekend v Virginia Beach, and Rochester starts the week after that in Miami.-The Thunder have a week off before heading to games in Portland on May 6, in Seattle May 13, in Vancouver May 14 & in Montreal May 21, before the next home game v Portland on May 27.~ ~ ~ ~MLS matches this past weekend:New York 1-4 DC - Washington Post match report by Steven GoffHouston 2-1 Salt Lake - Houston Chronicle match report by Bernardo FallasLos Angeles 0-1 Columbus - LA Times match report by Grahame JonesDallas 2-1 Kansas City - Fort Worth Star Telegram match report by Tobias Xavier Lopez~ ~ ~ ~Did you see Alecko Eskandarian's celebration after he scored the first goal against the New York Red Bulls? He ran over to his own bench where someone tossed him a can of Red Bull, he popped the top, took a sip, got a sour look on his face, and spit it out! Fantastic!!~ ~ ~ ~Jonesy in the LA Times comments on the celebration too.~ ~ ~ ~MLSnet on new Galaxy President Alexi Lalas' first day in charge: Lalas met the media in LA last Friday~ ~ ~ ~More on the embarrassing home loss by LA to their former coach Sigi Schmid & his Columbus Crew, from MLSnet.~ ~ ~ ~DJ Walker's grandiose Stream of Consciousness: Splainin'; KC Wizards at FC Dallas~ ~ ~ ~Andrea Canales on the Q & A with John O'Brien of Chivas USA, for Soccer 365.~ ~ ~ ~Houston Dynamo signed ex-Sunderland mid-fielder Stuart Holden.~ ~ ~ ~According to Michael Lewis at Big Apple Soccer, former Metrostar & USA actual star Tab Ramos has been approached to become the New York Red Bulls Director Of Soccer Operations.~ ~ ~ ~Andrew Dixon at GolNoir has some excellent words for "Soccer Haters".~ ~ ~ ~Frank Giase of the Newark Star Ledger looks at the current state of the Freddy Adu saga.~ ~ ~ ~The latest on the possibility of having MLS in Philly sees 3 companies lining up bids to make it happen.~ ~ ~ ~The London Telegraph on Landy Cakes & Team USA for the World Cup.~ ~ ~ ~Even more Bridgeview pics via Kenn Tomasch.~ ~ ~ ~FYI Again - My birthday is coming up on May 3 and I would love one of these or one of these in XXL! (Just drop me an anonymous email and I will tell you what address to ship it to.)~ ~ ~ ~I know what this is, but I still don't get it: El Reto Final Nissan - Team USA 1997 v Team Mexico 1997~ ~ ~ ~English FA Cup Semifinals this weekend:Chelsea 1-2 LiverpoolMiddlesbrough 0-1 West Ham-The final, Liverpool v West Ham, will be played at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff on Saturday May 13th. Again they unfortunately will only be showing this match on closed-circuit TV at selected pubs and restaurants. There is a mandatory $20 PER PERSON COVER CHARGE from Setanta! Call your local watering hole to see if they are showing it.~ ~ ~ ~FINALLY! Europe has an actual race for a league title. In Italy Juventus has blown a big season long lead that is now down to 3 points over Milan with 3 games left to play. Juventus drew 1-1 with Lazio while Milan beat Messina 3-1.-Here are the two teams remaining matches:April 30Milan v LivornoSiena v JuventusMay 7Juventus v PalermoParma v MilanMay 14Milan v RomaReggina v Juventus~ ~ ~ ~The World Rankings by the original Secret Squirrel Jonah Freedman at Sports Illustrated!~ ~ ~ ~Alan Shearer has made it official and called an end to his 18 year career. I would guess he will stay at Newcastle in some capacity, but then again.... He scored tons of goals, including 130 for Blackburn, 30 goals for England, 43 for Southampton, 206 in the black & white stripes.~ ~ ~ ~BQ sent me this note and a link to a story about Shearer from Soccernet: I really liked this article. Not sure quite why. Maybe there was just something very human about the whole thing. His young child asking why he wasn't eating the pre-game meal, and eating pie and chips at the stadium instead. It kind of reminded me of seeing Manny Lagos this morning at the Thunder practice with his warm ups on but in tennis shoes and holding a cup of Dunn Brothers coffee. How strange it must be for the pro athlete when their whole world gets changed like this.~ ~ ~ ~Steven Gerrard of Liverpool was awarded the English PFA's Player of the Year. OK? I guess I would say he is in the top 10, but best? Frank Lampard was the clear winner. On the other hand, who am I to argue, it's fellow players that pick this award, and they should know who is best. Right?~ ~ ~ ~In a little reported story, Malcolm Glazer who owns Man United suffered a stroke on Easter Sunday, but has now been released from the hospital.~ ~ ~ ~The mighty Phil Ball hits Morocco: From Marrakesh to the Madrigal~ ~ ~ ~Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune looks at the bull headed egomaniacal pigs who leads England's biggest clubs: Struggling managers behaving badly. Then shows us the great side of the game with a tribute to one of Brazil's most beautiful of the beautiful: For Santana, a legacy of elegance~ ~ ~ ~The UEFA Champions League Semifinals move to the second & deciding leg matches (with first legs scores included):Tuesday:Villarreal - Arsenal (0-1) - See the second leg on ESPN2 at 1:30pm central.Wednesday:Barcelona - Milan (1-0) - See the second leg on Setanta & ESPN Deportes at 1:30pm central. And reshown a day later on FSC at 4pm central time.-The Finale is May 17 at Stade de France in Paris.~ ~ ~ ~Top 12 goal scorers in Europe (in regular league matches):28 Luca Toni - Fiorentina25 Klass Jan Huntelaar - Heereveen/Ajax24 Samuel Eto'o - Barcelona23 Thierry Henry - Arsenal22 David Villa - Valencia21 David Trezeguet - Juventus21 Ruud Van Nistelrooij - Manchester United21 Tarmo Neemelo - TVMK Tallinn20 Kris Boyd - Kilmarnock/Rangers20 Daivd Suazo - Cagliari20 Pauleta Paris Saint Germain20 Miroslav Klose - Werder Bremen~ ~ ~ ~La Copa Libertadores 2006 round of 16 starts immediately with some incredible matchups!! Here are the games (all are two legged knockout games):A: April 27 & May 3Newell's Old Boys v Vélez SarsfieldB: April 27 & May 3Nacional v InternacionalC: April 26 & May 4River Plate v CorinthiansD: April 26 & May 3Palmeiras v São Paulo FCE: April 25 & May 4Estudiantes LP v Goiás ECF: April 27 & May 4Tigres UANL v LibertadG: April 25 & May 2Liga Dep. Universitaria v Atlético NacionalH: April 26 & May 2Chivas Guadalajara v Independiente Santa Fe-Gregeory Sica of Sports Illustrated breaks the last 16 on down now.~ ~ ~ ~My man Sasha is always filling me in on the latest & greatest from the Serbia & Montenegro team players. Here is his latest: Here is an article I found (unlinked) on BigSoccer: Brazilians crazy about Dejan Petkovic …they even compare him with the legendary Zico 16.02.2006 by Anita ClaraThey call him “Pet” and no matter which team they are supporting: Brazilians are fascinated with the ‘gringo’ (the stranger) and keep on saying that he should become a naturalized Brazilian in order to play for the Seleção. In the country, that won 5 World Cups so far, people are wondering where this foreigner comes from, because he seems not to belong to the Earth. Users exchanging opinions in web forums, joke that he could be a native from another planet and believe that he must have superpowers. Even Brazilian football players describe Dejan ‘Rambo’ Petkovic, who was selected as the best midfielder of the Brazlian league in 2005, with words full of admiration: “extraordinary”, “sensational”, “a unique personality”, “a joyful spirit, inspirational for the entire team”, “a spectacular player”, “with a rhythm and quality very rare”, “an artist with the ball” and… they even compare him to the legendary Zico.For the supporters of Flamengo “Pet” played the main part in winning the third consecutive title in the Carioca Championship. For the fans of Vitoria he is the most fabulous player they can remember and still regret that he left them. Vasco da Gama’s supporters speculate, that he showed his best performances there and people of Fluminense are full of gratitude towards the goals he is currently scoring for them and his numerous unforgettable performances.Most of them cannot explain themselves, why the coach of Serbia & Montenegro is not counting on him for the WC 2006 and want him as 22nd player in their own national team. They dream about “Pet” entering a difficult match beside Kakà and Ronaldinho, making some assists for Ronaldo or shooting the ball directly to Adriano’s head.Mario Jorge Lobo Zagallo, technical coordinator of the Brazilian Seleção, criticized the attitude of the FA of Serbia Montenegro, telling that they are blind if they don’t see the talent of “Pet”. In the opinion of the journalist Eduardo Vieira da Costa, writing for Folha do Sau Paulo, this uncertainty about “Pet” in Germany 2006 is a great injustice. Meanwhile, the ‘Serbo-Brazilian’ is still hoping to be called up by Ilija Petkovic for the friendly of Serbia Montenegro against Tunisia on the 1st of march, so he can prove what his true worth is.There are some highlight clips of his goals this season on YouTube, but I can't get them to work (maybe it's just my computer)...~ ~ ~ ~LEAGUE TITLES:-Sheriff won a record sixth consecutive Moldovan league title.-Maccabi Haifa won the Israeli league championship for a third season in a row.-Porto won their 21st Portuguese Premier League title-Red Star Belgrade won their 24th Serbia and Montenegro first division title

6 Comments:

I loved Amos' "Irish Mafia" look at the game on Sunday, with the black suit, white tie and black sunglasses that he was sporting. Seems his time earlier this year visiting coaches in Portugal rubbed off on him with regard to sideline fashion. It especially cracked me up when he was sitting with his butt on the bench backrest, his feet on the bench, and his arms on his knees...